Is there a "find" for an observing target list? [Answered: Not a feature.]

[theskyhound]

First, allow me to point out that you have complete control over the designations, which should really help with this. For instance, of you set up NGC as the second identifier and IC as the third, the Alternative ID column will display NGC/IC for most objects, and you can sort on it to easily find the one you want.

To customize the designations, select Preferences from the top-level Setup menu and then the Designations tab. See the help for how it works. This is a very powerful feature.

Regarding locating targets in the list, this is something I have gently pushed back against because it isn't necessary to the function of the tool and there are already a dizzying array of options for people to confuse. The way the Nightly Planner is designed to be used is this: take a list of objects, filter it, sort it (or generate a plan) and then go out and observe them. Other than during list building (if you want to see if an object is in the list or not) there is little advantage to finding the object in the list.

Allow me to suggest an alternative: use the Designation Search Tool to look up the object instead. Then open the Object Information for it. The Nightly Planner is for lists of objects, but whenever you are interested in a single object, the Object Information has all of the same information in it and much more. Click the Observing Lists tab of the Object Information and it will even tell you which lists it is assigned to.